Major Modules until fall '21
Students are required to select one out of three Major Modules (focus areas) at the end of the first semester. Each module consists of a certain number of mandatory and a wide range of elective courses. In total, 41-45 ECTS credits have to be acquired, depending on the number of courses completed in the module “Complementary Skills”. In the elective part of the Major Module, you are allowed to select any course on the document “Course structure before fall '21 (PDF, 205KB)” which is not mandatory for you.
The responsible lecturers of each Major Module set up a list of recommended elective courses to guide you through the course selection process and to support the development of a sound professional profile. The study coordination organizes an optimal schedule accordingly. If you deviate from the recommendations, you might encounter organizational problems such as overlapping courses.
Note: a so-called First Semester Information Event takes place each year in November. All Major Modules are presented and information on course selections is made available.
More information on the Major Modules
Biomechanical Systems
Responsible
Introduction
Biomechanical systems are biological organs or man-made devices that fulfill a primary mechanical function such as pumping of blood or moving a skeletal segment. Cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases represent major public health problems especially due to the aging demography of our western societies. In particular, cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and hypertension are the leading cause of death in the world. Musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis, osteoporosis or back pain are the most notorious causes of physical disability, affecting hundreds of millions of people across the planet. Despite growing awareness of these diseases in the past decades, considerable challenges remain to be met to improve their prevention, diagnosis and treatment. These challenges are met by interdisciplinary teams of scientists, clinicians and biomedical engineers.
Educational goal
In this module, students will gain a comprehensive understanding and the analytical skills for investigation of biomechanical systems, combining knowledge in fluid dynamics, solid mechanics and biomedical engineering. They will acquire engineering, biological and medical theories to contribute to the resolution of complex biomechanical and mechanobiological problems. Students will learn to draw connections between tissue/organ characteristics and mechanical or biological responses, and vice versa. In particular, students will develop the required expertise to apply their knowledge in relevant, clinically-oriented problem solving in the fields of cardiovascular engineering, orthopedics, dental medicine, sports science and rehabilitation.
Module content
The mandatory courses in this module will transmit the fundamental knowledge in fluid dynamics, solid mechanics, computational methods, tissue biomechanics and tissue engineering to the students. They will provide understanding of the functional adaptation of tissues and organs to the biomechanical demands of daily living, and the potential for their repair and regeneration. Elective courses allow the students to extend their competence in several directions, gaining further knowledge in anatomy and physiology (Functional Anatomy of the Locomotor Apparatus), modeling and computational methods (Finite Element Analysis II, Tissue Biomechanics Lab, Modeling and Simulation), experimental techniques (Cutting Edge Microscopy), engineering sciences (Microsystems Engineering, Intelligent Implants) or biological sciences (Osteology, Molecular Biology, Tissue Engineering Practical Course). Elective courses will also deliver the practical application of core knowledge to problems related to human and dental medicine (Design of Biomechanical Systems, Regenerative Dentistry).
Recommended elective courses
Electronic Implants
Responsible
Educational goal
Electronic implants are devices such as cardiac pacemakers and cochlear implants. Due to miniaturization and other technical developments, many new applications become feasible and therefore this exciting area is growing rapidly. In this module, students will gain a comprehensive technical and application-oriented understanding that will allow them to select, use, design, and optimize electronic implants and similar biomedical systems. Since the work on such complex systems is usually done in interdisciplinary groups, another important goal is that graduates are able to work and communicate in teams consisting of, e.g., engineers, scientists, and medical doctors.
Module content
In this major module, mandatory courses will provide the students with a comprehensive technical understanding and a fundamental knowledge in the areas of intelligent implant technology, microsystems engineering, microelectronics, signal processing and analysis, and wireless communications. Elective courses allow the students to gain further expertise in selected topics such as modeling and simulation, biomedical acoustics, biomedical sensors, microcontroller programming, FEM, and other areas.
Prerequisites
This major module is open to all students of our master's program. However, typically, students have an engineering-related background, for example, electrical engineering, microtechnology engineering, systems engineering, mechatronics engineering, mechanical engineering, or computer science.
Recommended elective courses
Image-Guided Therapy
Responsible
Introduction
Image-Guided Therapy refers to the concept of guiding medical procedures and interventions through perceiving and viewing of medical image data, possibly extended by using stereotactic tracking systems. Medical imaging typically relates to a great variety of modalities ranging from 2D fluoroscopy and ultrasound to 3D computed tomography and magnet resonance imaging, possibly extended to complex 4D time series and enhanced with functional information (PET, SPECT). Guidance is realized by various means of determination of spatial instrument-to-patient relationship and by suitable visualizations. Image guidance is very often accompanied by other surgical technologies such as surgical robotics, sensor enhanced instrument systems as well as information and communication technology.
Educational goal
Students of the IGT module will be introduced to the fundamentals of the above mentioned clinical and technical aspects of image-guided therapy. They will receive an overview of currently applied clinical standards as well as an overview of latest advancements in research. Successful students will be able to develop novel clinic-technological applications for complex medical procedures as well as improve existing approaches to IGT. This will enable further careers both in the industrial and academic sector.
Module content
Mandatory courses of this module are concerned with the fundamentals of Signal and Image Processing and Medical Image Analysis. Furthermore, fundamental aspects of stereotactic image guidance, tracking, patient-to-image registration and basic clinical applications are taught in the course Computer-Assisted Surgery. Recent trends and fundamental aspects in surgical robot technology, minimally-invasive procedures and its applications within IGT are introduced in the course Medical Robotics.
Additional elective courses extend students competencies in related areas such as Computer Graphics, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning.